BAH rates to decrease in Jacksonville

While the rest of the nation will see an average increase to their BAH in 2013, military members living in Jacksonville will see around a 2-percent decrease, according to the Defense Travel Management Office’s BAH Calculator.

While the rest of the nation will see an average increase to their BAH in 2013, military members living in Jacksonville will see around a 2-percent decrease, according to the Defense Travel Management Office’s BAH Calculator.

The decrease in the local 2013 Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rates, which the Department of Defense released Monday, applies only to service members who are reporting to the area for this first time in 2013. Military members already assigned to the Jacksonville area will continue to receive the 2012 rates and will not see their BAH rate decrease, DoD officials said.

Nationwide, service members with dependents will see an average increase of 3.8 percent, with a typical E-6 with dependents finding the 2013 BAH pay to be about $60 per month higher than this year, and an O-3 with dependents receiving about $55 more than last year, according to the DoD.

In Jacksonville, however, the newly arrived E-6 with dependents, for example, would receive $1,323 a month, which is $30 less than the $1,353 the E-6 already here currently gets. A newly arrived O-3 with dependents would get $1,446, or $30 less than his O-3 counterpart who already resides in the area and receives $1,476. Those same ranks without dependents also will see a drop: The E-6 would go from $1,059 to $1,035 a month; and the O-3 rate drops from $1,281 to $1,272.

"BAH rates vary by geographic duty station, pay grade and dependency status,” said Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Christensen, DoD spokesman, in an email to The Daily News. “They are based on local costs of rent, utilities and renter’s insurance. While the majority of locations will see an increase, housing costs in some locations have decreased, resulting in lower BAH rates.

“This is the case in Jacksonville, N.C.”

DoD officials said the decreases only apply to newly reporting service members so as not to penalize military members who have made long-term commitments in the form of a lease or contract.

The individual rate protection “ensures that those already assigned to a given location will not see their BAH rate decrease, however, they will receive the increase if the rate goes up,” DoD officials said in a press release.

The new BAH rates will take effect on Jan. 1, with the DoD planning to spend an estimated $20 billion in BAH on more than one million service members in 2013, according to the release.

Contact Daily News Military Reporter Amanda Wilcox at 910-219-8453 or amanda.wilcox@jdnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AWilcox21.